Even though Chry Co. had bought AMC in late 86 (because of Renault's financial bills, & cheap made products), there was a design for a new AMC V8 engine that was "Shelved" for about 10 years, & was developed & tested at the old Kenosha plant, that ultimately became the Dodge/Jeep 4.7L OHC V8 (1999-2013).
I graduated from high school in 1981 and remember most of these commercials. Matter of fact, the parents of one of my close friends owned a 1974 AMC Matador sedan. With all that is happening now, perhaps this video will be shown 50 years from now as an example of what life on earth was like before Covid-19.
In the 1970's, my dad was a part-time "livery" cab driver...in Staten Island New York,. Livery service is when you calling your ride request to a dispatcher.. but he had the same ambassador as you.. great car
One thing you notice in.the jeep commercials in particular was the proud confidence in the jeep name. That inferred confidence repeated over the years has a lot to do with why jeeps still have value and cachet, and market presence all the way to today. They were, and still are proud of their products, and thus by extension the buyer will also achieve that same status and prestige if they also buy a jeep
If AMC’s had the galvanized steel exteriors and were built to last, how come we don’t see more of them today? LOVE AMC!!! (I’m the guy who recently commented on our family ‘72 Ambassador that I used as a teen when mom wasn’t at work or my dad wasn’t pulling a big boat). That Ambassador was white with a navy blue vinyl roof. I kept it waxed and used a clear waxy paste on the vinyl that was made for vinyl roofs. Boy, did that dark blue vinyl shine!!! And bead water!!! Drops as big around as quarters!!! The gold double pinstripe was painted on (factory I assume). I have a million stories about that car, some that would curl your hair ( I used to jump the railroad tracks at Davie Blvd. near Andrews in Fort Lauderdale...get air and land soft as a pillow), but the stories would be boring to most people.
My neighbor growing up was an executive at AMC. One day, he put out boxes of AMC materials. Laser discs, books, brochures and more. I asked him if I could have them, and he said ok. But, my mom said “I don’t want his junk.” 8 year old me was crushed.
We had a '68 Ambassador DPL which I learned to drive on. Despite numerous problems when it was new (I still have my father's handwritten observations from 1968), these were all eventually corrected. It even had the wrong carburetor originally! My father said the dealer took the correct carb off another car on the lot and put it on ours.
Oh my...cars were a lot less consistent back then. Two cars built two days apart could have totally different quality and reliability. Thanks for watching!
We had ALL AMC's growing up. My dad had a few Spirits, Eagles (Wagon and SX/4) my mom had the Wagoneer, my older brothers had a few Pacers and Gremlins and my sister and I both had several SX/4's. I LOVED them so much!!! The 4WD and steel body were unstoppable. I recall a deer or 2 getting destroyed, and only the plastic grill cover getting a crack in it. Sure my friends with newer cars in 92-99 had better radios and some features...but my Eagle had character!! Loved seeing the old ads!
I have a vivid memory of an Ambassador commercial showing a lucky couple being picked up by a chauffeur driven Ambassador then driven about, whilst their neighbors had amusing reactions of dropped jaws, pratfalls, etc.
When they filmed that JEEP commercial, what movie studio did they use, Warner Brothers or Universal, only because of the sets that are being driven through
Joe love youre vids!! My first cat AMC 81 Spirit.Loved that car straight 6 258cui . Never shouldve sold it. In market now for an 81 hornet sundancer.A rare bird, but very cool.Thanx Joe, please keep the vids coming.
When you think about it, the Renault Alliance and Encore were similar to the AMC Hornet and Gremlin, in that the smaller hatchback was basically just the larger car without the trunk
You're right! Except Gremlin had a slightly shorter wheelbase than Hornet, whereas Encore was the same size as Alliance. For 1987 they actually dropped the Encore name and just called it "Alliance Hatchback." Thanks for watching!
I love old car commercials! I believe even though cars were still mass produced, the ppl that built them, took more price in them. Companies I believe did too.
I worked with a girl in the late 80’s and her dad was obsessed with the wagon and bought 3 of them because they lived out in the country and wanted a 4wd vehicle for the winter, So she used to drive one to work and school.
I watch TV for the ads and have done so for years! Those Eagle ads and the Jeep ad with the buffalo had me hee hawing! It was in this time frame that Acura was trying to market to upscale Jag and BMW customers in one of their ads. It was so ridiculous and misleading, the federal trade commision made them take that ad down!
Thank you for your great videos. One think I always wondered was why AMC used 2 piece axles in the rear when it seemed the big 3 stopped in the early 60'S?
American Motors Corporation does not make a 4 door full size Ambassador in the 1980. For 1980, AMC only makes compact cars, such as the Eagle, Concord, and Spirit cars.
That's great! You should watch this Jeep Comanche comparison test we uploaded off the AMC Laserdisc: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hltUhpTohDQ.html
I remember the Jeep XJ Cherokee, the Comanche, and the Grand Wagoneer. I cannot imagine the Comanche selling well today, since it was only offered in 2 door body style. But I remember finding it more attractive than either the Ford Ranger, or Chevy S10. I consider it a damn shame that it was discontinued when it was.
My Spirit D/L was a rust bucket LOL. The doors were the worst. All the parts on the door rusted and they would not cover the rust within that 5 year period..
In the late 1970's, GM initiated a survey of luxury car owners in affluent areas such as Beverly Hills, etc. to find out what kinds of vehicles they owned in order to better compete with European luxury cars such as Mercedes, Jaguar, etc. They wanted to know what features were important to buyers so that they could reproduce them on Cadillac etc to lure luxury buyers back. What they found out was that no matter what brand of primary vehicle wealthy people owned, they always had either a Toyota J50 or Jeep SJ. This accidentally became the new focus of the study to find out why these unassuming vehicles were hot commodities. Pickup trucks were seen as strictly blue collar vehicles that were embarrassing at the time to own. But as it turns out, people still wanted to go skiing, as well the fact they needed cargo space to haul things around. Cadillac for years touted their vehicles as having towing capacity for equestrian needs as you can see in the old brochures, as an example. But with the J50 & SJ you had all the advantages and capabilities of a truck for towing, cargo capacity, AND the luxury appointments of a high-end car with leather, A/C, etc. Thus Detroit started gearing up for the massive SUV boom that they saw coming, as they knew that these SUVs would be products that people would aspire to own since the wealthy already had them. Georges Besse believed in the Renault/AMC partnership, despite the French government and his contemporaries disdain for it. He hated the Le Car, and understood that Americans needed better products than the Alliance and Fuego. Thus the Eagle Premier was born as a modular car platform with coupes and wagons on the way, and soon after the Renault Alpine GTA was to be imported as the Eagle Alpine in order to turn Eagle into the performance brand, with Jeep as the truck division, and AMC as the regular cars. When Besse was murdered, Renault was finally able to dump AMC. Ford, GM, Chrysler, and others jumped at the chance to buy AMC, but Renault refused to sell to them without commitments to purchase PRV engines from Douvrin. Besses' plan had been to supply V6 engines, and transaxles to AMC/Eagle to employ French workers. No one really wanted AMC, just Jeep, and were willing to cannibalize AMC just for the single brand. Jeep had the hottest SUVs, especially with the upcoming Grand Cherokee (despite cheating Larry Shinoda out of his design of the vehicle). Only Chrysler eventually promised to fulfill the contract to purchase the drivetrains, so they won the chance to buy AMC, but broke the engine deal anyway after the acquisition was complete. Lee Iaccoca favored Mitsubishi over Renault, and canceled plans for the Alpine, instead opting for the Mitsubishi Eclipse to take its place instead as the Eagle Talon.
I'm glad to hear that. Given the concern for the Covid-19 Coronavirus, I wasn't sure whether you'd be able to do your work. I'm glad to see the Amby is still running. :)
No, I'm afraid not. I work in the same building as MotorWeek, but I work for a different TV show now. I'm still friends with the MW crew though. Thanks for watching!
@@AutoMoments Wish you the best Joe.Always enjoyed you on the podcast. As for AMC.Always a fan of them but those Renault's.Yikes!They were disasters when I started selling cars in late 80's I learned the hard way to stay away from retailing them.
Brian Wells thankfully Chrysler left jeeps alone until 1993 for the Cherokee and 97 for the wrangler. Still using amc parts until 2006 for the wrangler.
There are several big vendors around the country who sell a lot of NOS and used parts. Plus the Jeep aftermarket also produces things that are interchangeable with some AMCs. Since AMC bought some components from other companies (like Chrysler transmissions), those are still fairly easy to get parts for, and there's also a small handful of specialty companies who make new AMC parts. But worse come to worst, you just have to find a donor car and pull the parts yourself. Certain items are getting increasingly rare and expensive... Thanks for watching!
anywhere you can get parts for any classic car. Rockauto, junkyards, etc. There's a little "know the right people" to find some obscure parts, like how Joe got a new vinyl top, but otherwise it's pretty straight forward
My dad had A 1983 AMC Eagle. We lived at 8500 feet in the mountains in Colorado. The Eagle did everything they said in the commercial. HE sold it 10 years later and actually sold it for more than he paid for it.
talfacprez My brother had a former boss who had a Hornet with a 6 engine and a 3 speed manual. He could climb some really high hills in 3rd gear. You couldn’t do that with many cars of the day.
@@glennso47 did you know that 258 6 is the same basic engine they put in Jeeps to this day. The 4.0 is that same engine. Now it has a much lighter weight block and many improvements, but it is still the same engine.
You forgot to mention the ride quality that these cars delivered. When A.M.C. said in their early TV commercials that they gave the Ambassador the "Red Carpet" ride, they were VERY serious. Even though the cars were ugly as sin, they rode every bit as well as did the Cadillacs and Lincolns of the day. A.M.C. put a lot of money into their suspensions. I know. I have ridden in the 1972 Ambassador and my late sister owned a 1974 Matador.
I remember cars like the Eagle, the Concord, and the Spirit. I've always found the 1981 and later Spirit grille more attractive than that of either the Concord or the Eagle.
Ahhhh, the wonderful 80's. The decade of unlimited credit card spending, beautiful hair spray laden blondes, William Shatner voice-overs and the Jeep Cherokee. Enjoyed this video with my morning coffee. Thanks for sharing all the wonderful commercials. Love that Ambassador.
In the Jeep commercial shot of the barber shop, the man with the shaving cream is actor Bernard Fox. He played Dr. Bombay in the 1964-1972 ABC sitcom Bewitched.
I did not experience that era in the United States, but with a few rare exceptions, the cars built in the 1980s had nothing to do with the style of American cars of the previous decades... :(
R9 and R11's (Alliances and Encores outside US) were extremely popular in France and Spain as they were built there. Also Jeep Cherokees (and Wranglers) were marketed in Europe through Renault dealers. They even equipped a 2.1 litre Turbodiesel engine from Renault.
I know! It looks like some of them aren't even wearing seat belts! You'd expect that in a car commercial from the 1950s, not the 1980s. Haha. Thanks for watching!
Great video Joe, really enjoyed it thank you. I grew up in an AMC family in western Pennsylvania. My dad had a 1958 Rambler Ambassador, a 65 Ambassador, a 68 Ambassador, a 72 Javelin, 76 Pacer, 1980 Renault 18i, a 1982 white 18i wagon and finally a triple green 74 AMC ambassador with 304 V8. My brother still has the 72 javelin SST and I still have the 74 ambassador.
My dad’s first car was an ambassador. He also had a CJ7. He currently has a Grand Cherokee as a second vehicle. My grandfather had a full size Cherokee. My aunt had a YJ. I’ve had 2 Cherokees and currently have a TJ and still have my 73 AMX I bought in high school 20 years ago.
One wonders how things would have played out if Chrysler wouldn't have bought AMC. With the Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Premier, and other models they had a good lineup with several new designs.
Your ambassador seems to be a well kept vehicle, seats look nice. I have been working on cars since the early 80s and I always thought the AMCs were kind of odd machines with pieces from other car makers collected together and combined with their in house parts. These days every car maker collect parts from around the world and assembles a car from them.
Had 2 Cherokees (89 and 95). Almost bought a Comanche but had to pass on it cause I actually don’t fit in it. Now daily a 98 TJ, the generation of wrangler to still use AMC parts.
Very entertaining video Joe. I look forward to all your videos. About the Renault Alliance; my brother and I had a used car lot in the late 80's and a wholesaler brought us a pristine Alliance with only about 5000 miles on it. I liked the basic design but the thing was so lightweight it basically felt like driving a go-cart. Not much between you and the pavement. It just did not favorably compare with the Mazdas, Nissans, and Toyotas as far as feeling secure while driving. We sold it to a customer who was very happy with it however. It was a good deal because they just didn't have much resale value. Loved the homegrown AMC stuff but we never got much from the wholesalers.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I think part of the reason the Alliance felt so weird on the road is because the French liked suspension a lot softer than the Japanese did. Plus, the Alliance was just a really light, tiny vehicle. Thanks for watching!
Somebody who worked at AMC said the company actually used their own chemical formula for undercoating, and just paid Ziebart to use their brand name. Hahaha. Thanks for watching!
Great video. We pronounce Renault ‘Renno’ here in the UK! Those adverts were so cheesy and naff but so cool haha. Some of the Volvo adverts were pretty funny in that period - have a look at Volvo Snorace on RU-vid! Keep safe and keep the videos coming when you can!
AMC had some amazing products. My grandfather always drove a grand Wagoner and we really enjoyed how nice and versatile they were as a family vehicle and tow vehicle. Miss those days
A+ video! Glad the Ambassador is out driving again! I used to be fascinated by the 4x4 cars AMC used to make. I remember these old commercials and always wanted a AMC 4wd. My wife bought an Alliance new in the mid 80s. The car was a broken down, rusted out junker within 3 years, lol. I also can remember how outdated AMC cars looked when the Taurus came out. They just never could quite get the market share. Sad, because some of their cars were cool! Great trip back down memory lane! Stay safe!
